Colt McCoy, Texas (2006): McCoy did his best work as a junior, but you could argue that his freshman campaign was the second-best season he put together at Texas. Tasked with the unenviable job of replacing Vince Young, McCoy threw for 2,570, 29 TDs and only 7 INTs while completing an astounding 68.2% of his passes. He started out 9-1 as a starter, with his only loss a 24-7 dress down by No. 1 Ohio State, and put together a workmanlike effort in a 28-10 win over Oklahoma, threw for six TDs against Baylor, and posted a 213.7 rating in a blowout of OK State. The Horns’ national title hopes ended when McCoy was hurt vs. Kansas State late in the year, but UT still finished 10-3.

Over the summer, just about every college football pundit opined that a bowl berth would be considered an achievement for Texas A&M in its first SEC season. The Aggies responded by finishing 10-2, ranked in the top 10 of the BCS for the first time in 14 years and having one of their own hoist the Heisman Trophy in New York.

In the wake of his historic win, Johnny Manziel raised the bar even higher, saying he wanted to be the player who "starts the motor for a run at the national title next year."

But there's at least one person around college football who thinks the honeymoon could be short lived -- former Texas Tech (and current Cincinnati) head coach Tommy Tuberville.

During an appearance on Paul Finebaum's radio show this week, Tuberville said he figured A&M's wide-open offense would give it a shot at some early success, but that the Aggies "probably overachieved" in their debut SEC season.

"I think it’ll be hard for them to keep that up," Tuberville said. "Kevin Sumlin is doing a fabulous job of recruiting. I’ve recruited against A&M for years, and they’re making their mark in recruiting against all the Big 12 teams and any team that’s coming into the state of Texas.

"With that said, I think they probably overachieved this year. Knowing the talent that they had with the quarterback that played and obviously was one of if not the best player in college football. But it kind of catches up with you. I think next year will be even tougher because teams will now see what they’ve done and who the quarterback is, they’ll gameplan in the summer, and it’ll be awful tough for them to repeat what they did this year."

Tuberville knows just how tough the SEC can be. In 14 seasons as a head coach at Ole Miss and Auburn, he racked up a 110-60 record, including a 6-3 record in bowl games. But Tuberville's teams never improved their win totals in two consecutive seasons, and he only twice managed to notch double-digit wins in a season.

But that doesn't mean his words will sit well with the Aggies, who could return up to seven starters on defense, a deep backfield, its top receiver, and as many as four of five starters on the offensive line.

Not to mention Manziel, who dazzled college football fans across the country, including Tuberville.

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